Chapter 2: The Parallel World.

As soon as he reached his house, he rushed up the stairs and into his room.

Turning on the lights, he sat at his desk, his eyes fixed on the book's cover as he ate his meal.

"I can't believe I brought this strange thing home... What was I thinking?" he muttered, a hint of doubt creeping into his thoughts.

Although his curiosity had gotten the best of him, Arlo now questioned whether it had been wise to bring it home.

"Well, might as well check it out," he sighed, reaching for the book and flipping it open to the first page.

The initial page greeted him with an array of texts and information, centered around a circle adorned with a star at its core. It resembled a magic circle, the kind often depicted in anime.

Starting from the top, Arlo's eyes methodically scanned the contents of the first page, absorbing the information as he slurped on his cup noodles. 

With each passing sentence, his curiosity grew.

[Rules Of The Grimoire]

[- Only The One Who Has Been Granted Ownership May Read The Knowledge Stored Within This Grimoire.]

[- The Grimoire Supplies Magical Power Which Is Linked To The One Who Has Been Granted Ownership.]

[- If The Grimoire's Owner Is Not In Contact With The Grimoire, The Grimoire's Magic Will Not Be Supplied To The One Who Has Been Granted Ownership.]

[- If The Spell Used Greatly Exceeds The Amount Of Magical Power Within The Owners Body, The Owner May Die.]

"I see... so as long as I'm holding the book, I'll have access to its supply of magic power," Arlo mused, his expression serious. 

"I wonder how much magic power is stored in this thing?"

His mind raced with questions. 

"Wait, before that... what even is magic power in the first place? The power used by those who have awakened and the monsters found in the gates is called Evolution Energy."

"Is this a completely different source of energy? Magic... I wonder how it differs from Evolution Energy. I've only ever heard of it in anime, but that's just fiction..."

Excitement coursed through his veins as he flipped to the next page. However, his enthusiasm quickly plummeted, and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

At the top of the page, a short text was written, followed by instructions for the first spell. It was the brief message that snapped Arlo out of his reverie.

"Recently, I've found myself getting rather forgetful... I'll often be running into dungeons with my party and forgetting some of the high-tier spells I have mid-chant."

"It's beginning to worry me, so I made a grimoire for myself to use while chanting the spells. The note here is also for myself, so that I don't forget why I'm writing this grimoire in the first place..."

"It appears my old age is catching up to me... Maybe the next spell I should work on will be an aging spell? 

-The Cosmic Sage."

Reading those words aloud, Arlo's cheeks burned with embarrassment as he shook his head.

"I can't believe I took this thing seriously for a moment... It's obviously just some fake prank someone is playing on me. I'm too old for this," he sighed.

With that conclusion, Arlo's gaze drifted to the spell instructions displayed on the page next to the rules.

"Let's see... the first spell... Divine Class Dimension Magic: World Transportation," Arlo read aloud. 

"To use the spell, you must chant the words while holding onto the notebook. The coordinates of the world are already written in the chant, so I don't have to worry about teleporting to the wrong world or coordinates."

"If the chant is stopped midway, the spell will fail."

After reading the instructions, Arlo smiled mischievously, glancing at the chant.

"Yeah, right. You can't fool me," he scoffed. "I'll just say the chant to prove this is just a prank, then throw or sell this book away."

He began to recite the spell. "Let's see here... Beyond the bounds of time and space, through the void's embrace..."

As the words left his lips, the chant's text on the grimoire began to glow. Despite his growing concern, Arlo continued, refusing to stop even as the glow intensified.

Halfway through the chant, a magic circle materialized beneath him, its design mirroring the illustration he had seen in the grimoire. 

It encircled both Arlo and the chair he sat upon, causing his eyes to widen in disbelief as he pressed on with the incantation.

"Heed My Call... Divine-Class Dimension Magic: World Transportation."

The moment the final word left his tongue, everything changed. Darkness engulfed his surroundings, and a sense of weightlessness overtook him, as if gravity had relinquished its hold.

In the blink of an eye, his environment transformed once more. Arlo found himself sitting in the middle of a road, clutching the grimoire tightly, the sun's rays beating down upon him from a clear sky above.

"...Huh?"

Slowly, he surveyed his new surroundings, his eyes widening in shock as the reality of his situation began to sink in.

Arlo found himself in the heart of a medieval town, surrounded by a bustling crowd adorned in period attire. Horse-drawn carriages clattered along the cobblestone streets, adding to the surreal atmosphere.

However, it wasn't just the setting that left him astounded. The inhabitants of this world were a diverse array of beings, many humans, some resembling humans, while others were strikingly different.

Humanoid lizards, dressed in clothing, strolled through the town square, their scaly skin glistening in the sunlight. 

Individuals with cat ears, dog ears and tails mingled with the crowd, their feline features adding an exotic flair to the already extraordinary scene. 

Even an assortment of other fantastical creatures coexisted harmoniously with the human-like residents.

"No fucking way..." Arlo muttered, his eyebrows twitching in disbelief. 

The realization hit him like a thunderbolt, sending shockwaves through his entire being.

"I... I was actually teleported to another world!?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing through the streets, drawing curious glances from the passersby.